Some common difficulties - Easy Learning Grammar German

General problems

You can’t always translate German into English and English into German word for word. While occasionally it is possible to do this, often it is not. For example:

Sentences which contain a verb and preposition in English might NOT contain a preposition in German.

Jemanden/etwas ansehen

to look at somebody/something

Jemandem/etwas zuhören

to listen to somebody/something

However, many sentences which contain a verb and preposition in German DO contain a preposition in English.

sich interessierenfür

to be interested in

denkenüber

to think about

Remember that German prepositions are of two types:

Some are only ever used with one case, such as gegen (accusative), bei (dative) and außerhalb (genitive). For all of these it is useful to learn the preposition and its case by heart.

The second type are used either with the accusative or the dative, according to whether movement from one place to another is involved or not. The translation of the same preposition from the last group can change according to the case being used.

Sie schrieb einen Briefan ihren Bruder.

She wrote a letter to her brother.

Wir treffen unsam Bahnhof.

We’re meeting at the station.

For more information onPrepositions, see .

A word which is plural in English may not be in German.

eine Brille

glasses, spectacles

eine Schere

scissors

eine Hose

trousers

Note that they are only used in the plural in German to mean more than one pair, for example, zwei Hosen = two pairs of trousers.